Japan is reducing the cost of extracting uranium from seawater using cloth dipped in persimmon juice. Now less than twice as expensive as regular mining. These methods will enable access to 4.5 billion tons of uranium in seawater.
Genetically engineered seaweed to have the tannins in perisimmons and with similarities in fiber to the cotton may be a path to affordable large scale uranium from seawater. The seaweed could also have uses for biofuel to help offset costs with another useful biproduct.